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Alabama, her history, resources, war record, and public men : from 1540 to 1872
The facts for this department of the volume, meagerly as they are presented, have been gathered with extreme difficulty. No official data exists that is accessible. The statistics compiled by the bureau organized for that purpose by
the State, during the late war, have, by some mysterious agency, disappeared from the capitol; but they were by no means complete.
It is surmised that much information of the kind could be obtained from the archives of the Confederacy at Washington, but application has been recently made to the authorities there, by one most likely to receive a favorable answer, and a peremptory refusal was the result. Hence, the author was driven to the necessity of visiting all parts of
the State, to glean from the memory of survivors the statements here embodied.
Of some of the organizations much fuller details are at hand, but, where all are deserving, it is proper to give no
undue prominence to any particular command. The plain and brief outline of the operations of these commands is meant to be garnished by no adjectives of praise.
Where valor, fortitude, and devotion were the rule, it is not necessary to multiply words to enforce it upon the attention
of the reader. The full measure of the heroic achievements of Alabamians in war requires volumes instead of a few pages, and it is much to be desired that some patriotic son should prepare a work which would be ample in its details; the ground-work of which is laid, and the sources of information
indicated, in the pages which follow.
It will be observed that only the names of captains of companies and field officers are given. Of course no one will infer
therefrom that these officers were more deserving than the mass of privates and subalterns, who shared the perils and
privations of the straggle with even a less incentive to patriotic duty. But it was necessary to draw a limit to these facts somewhere, and, owing to the difficulty of securing more complete information, this was the point selected.
Thousands of noble names that might claim
Triumphant laurels and immortal fame,
Confused in clouds of glorious actions lie,
And troops of heroes undistinguished die."
There were also staff and department officers whose names should be embraced in any compilation of the war record of
Alabama, for their duties were essential to the conduct of the operations in the field, and were often of the most delicate and hazardous nature; but their omission here is for reasons embraced in what has been already said.
Whatever may be his opinion of the cause for which these men fought and suffered, no Alabamian—no American can
fail to feel his admiration enkindle at deeds which have made the name of "Southerner" a title of respect throughout the
civilized world. On the grandest theatre of human action apart from the laws and tribunals of men—and with the God of Battles as the arbiter—these brave sons of Alabama achieved triumphs which make a luminous chapter in the annals of mankind. On no battle-field did their conduct
bring reproach to Alabama; it was an unbroken chain of illustrious deeds that cannot be tarnished by the failure of the cause. " The time will come, yes, is, even now, when no
"higher honor can attach to the memory of the dead, no " purer or more enviable distinction characterize the living,
" than this: He was a Confederate soldier, full of courage " and devotion."* And, now that "The war drums throb no longer,
and the battle-flags are furled," every generous American unites in the homage due to a
matchless valor, whose glory defies alike the humilitarian of Defeat and the inroads of Time.
During the troubles with the Muscogces and Cherokees in
1836 and '37, the people of Alabama volunteered very
promptly, and in large numbers. Under Generals Patterson
of Madison and Philpot of Morgan, a force marched ink
the Cherokee country in 1837, as a considerable body moved
to the Chattahoochee under Generals Jessup, U. S. A., and
Patterson the year before. But there was no fighting.
Quite a number of Alabamians were also anxious to participate in the war with Mexico, 1846- 48.
The Thirteenth U. S. Infantry was raised under the ten
regiment bill of 1847, and was officered by Alabamians to
some extent. There was a company from Limestone, under Capt. Egbert Jones, in that regiment.
There was a regiment organized in Mobile, with Jones M.
Withers of Lowndes as colonel, and Philip H. Raiford of
Macon as lieutenant colonel, but dissensions among the officers caused it to disband. Several of the companies, however, went on to the Rio Grande, but were not in active service.
The First Alabama Volunteers was a regiment organized
at Mobile in June 1846 for twelve months' service. John R.
Coffey of Jackson was colonel, Richard G. Earle of Calhoun
lieutenant colonel, Goode Bryan of Tallapoosa major, and
Hugh P. Watson of Talladega adjutant. The companies
were as follows: From Greene, Capt. Syd. Moore; Greene,
Capt. Andrew P. Pickens; Talladega, Capt Hugh Cunningham ; Calhoun, Capt. E. T. Smith; DeKalb, Capt. Zach.
Thomason; Perry, Capt. Wm. Coleman; Jackson, Capt
Jones; Mobile, &c., Capt. Wm. Ketchum; Pike, Baldwin,
&c, Capt. Dru. Baldwin. The regiment proceeded to the
Rio Grande, and remained near Brownsville for three months.
At Camargo it was brigaded under Gen. Pillow. In December the regiment was sent to Tampico, and placed under Gen.
Shields, and shortly after was sent to Vera Cruz and brigaded
with the Palmetto regiment and First Georgia. Sent to take
Alvarado, the regiment reached Cerro Gordo the day after
the battle. The regiment was mustered out of service May
25,1847. It entered the service 900 strong, lost one killed in
a skirmish, 150 by disease, and about 200 had been discharged.
A battalion of volunteers was organized in the spring of
1847, and enlisted for the war. John J. Seibels of Montgomery
"was chosen lieutenant colonel, and was the only field officer. The companies were from Tuskaloosa, Capt. John G.
Ban*; Wilcox, Dallas, and Lowndes, Capt. T. E. Irby; Barbour, Capt. Tennent Lomax; Mobile, Capt. Blanton McAlpine; Sumter, Capt. Gibbs. The battalion reached Vera
Cruz too late to join Gen. Scott's forces, but was on garrison duty in the interior, principally at Orizaba, till the peace.
There were also three or four detached companies from the State, but none of them suffered in battle.
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